Actuation assistant for aerosol dispenser valves



March 21, 1961 (3. DE WAYNE MILES ET AL 2,975,943

ACTUATION ASSISTANT FOR AEROSOL DISPENSER VALVES Filed March 51, 1958vii GILB m 7 DE WAYNE MIL ES RUSSELL PARK MCGH/E CHARLES W. FRIESINVENTORS ATTORNEY rates ACTUATION ASSISTANT FOR AEROSOL DISPENSERVALVES Gilbert De Wayne Miles, Ossining, Russell Park McGhie, New York,and Charles W. Fries, Long Island City, N.Y., assignors toColgate-Palmolive Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of DelawareFiled 31, 1958, Ser. No. 725,255

'5 Claims. (Cl. ZZZ-3%) many different types of dispensing valves andvalve actuators for containers of pressurized or aerosol materials. Mostof these actuators have been of the so-called button design butdiaphragm types have also found acceptance. In US. Patent No. 2,819,116,another valve operator has been shown which is apparently an improvementon the button and diaphragm designs. As stated by the inventor in thatpatent, an advantage of this valve actuator is that less force isrequired to open the valve associated with the actuator than is neededwhere a similar diaphragm cap is employed. Although this is a realadvantage of the patented valve operator, applicants have found that insome cases the force required to cause dispensing of pressurizedcontents is still greater than is convenient for the average user ofaerosol products. This is especially true when the material beingdispensed is not as freely flowing as a thin spray or a foam consistinglargely of vaporizable propellant. With products such as syrups, sauces,heavy oils and paste or cream dentrifices, as well as other materials ofsimilar viscosities and flow characteristics, it is usually necessary toemploy a comparatively insoluble and inert gas such as nitrogen or airat a relatively high pressure, e.g., 100 pounds per square inch. Suchhigh pressures opposing the opening of the valve, combined with thelonger time for which the valve must be held depressed to allow dichargeof sulficient amount of comparatively slowly flowing product, serve toincrease the difiiculty of holding these valves open and therebydecrease the convenience of aerosol dispensing. Applicants have inventeda lever-type actuation assistant which can be made economically and iseasily attachable to an aerosol valve actuator. It is compact,convenient, functional and efficient. It decreases the force required toactuate an aerosol valve and presents a greater contact surface whichdistributes this force over a comparatively large finger area,decreasing stress on the fingertip. The invented actuation assistant maybe used to facilitate the dispensing of aerosol pastes, creams, sprays,foams, powders and pressurized material in any other physical form.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided, for adispensing container for pressurized material having at its top anormally closed discharge valve which opens when depressed and a spoutthrough which contained material is dispensed upon depression of thevalve, that improvement which comprises a substantially horizontal leveractuation assistant for the valve adapted at one end to slip on thespout, retaining means for holding that end of the actuation assistantto the spout so as substantially to prevent relative vertical movement,a stop joined to the lever member andadapted to hold the lever inposition by preventing horizontal movement in the di- Patented Mar. 21,1961 rection of the spout and a downwardly extending portion on thelever which, in position over the discharge valve, will open that valvewhen the lever is depressed.

In a particular useful embodiment of the invention, the actuationassistant has, as a part thereof, a rider element movable betweenoperating and guard positions. In the operating position depression ofthe lever actuator causes flow of pressurized material while in theguard position such depression is prevented and in eifect the valve islocked closed. In a preferred commercial embodiment the rider itselfcontains a downwardly extending actuating portion which, when positionedover the discharge valve of the aerosol package will operate that valvebut when in guard position will not effect such actuation.

The structure, function and advantages of the present invention will beapparent from reference to the following detailed description of thebest mode of the invented device now contemplated, taken in conjunctionwith the drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a cut-away front elevation of the lever actuation assistantdepressed in operating position on a valve actuator attached to adispensing container;

Fig. 2 is a plan -view of the actuation assistant in inoperative orguard position on the integral valve actuator;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the actuation assistant minus rider;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the rider; and

Fig. 5 is a partial section of the actuation assistant along plane 55 ofFig. 3.

Number 11 denotes a dispensing container for pressurized material havingan upper wall portion 12 which is outwardly and downwardly turned at theend thereof 13. Closure 14 is flared and pressed over end 13 and isstaked to normally closed discharge valve 15 and container wall 12,thereby sealing the dispensing container when hollowstemmed or tubularvertically reciprocable valve stem 17 is in rest position. from valve 15to a point near the bottom of the container (not shown) below thesurface of contents to be dispensed (not shown). Integral valve actuator18 comprises a body portion 19 adapted at its lower end 20 to grip thecontainer closure at the flared end thereof. The valve actuator alsocontains a horizontally or sidewardly extending spout member 21,preferably of flexible and resilient material such as polyethylene orthe like, which is also the preferable material of construction of thebalance of the integral valve actuator. Body portion 19 of the valveactuator 18 terminates at its upper end in a circular bead 22. As shownin the drawing this bead is raised and continuous about the entireuppermost body periphery but as will be evident from subsequentdiscussion and teachings the bead need not be either so raised orcontinuous providing that it is high enough at 23 to prevent horizontalmovement of the actuator assistant, to be described later. Horizontalresilient diaphragm 25 is attached to the body portion of the actuatorat a point 27 near spout 21. Diaphragm 25 is relatively free moving atother peripheral locations and clearance 26 between the diaphragm andactuator body prevents binding thereon. Passageway 28 is adapted to fitvalve stem 17 and will move it vertically downward when depressed at apoint over the valve element. Such movement will open valve 15 .andallow communication of container contents (not shown) and spout 21. Theexisting pres- Dip tube 16 extends downwardly tion thereto of thepresent actuation assistant. Combination lever-type actuation assistantand guard 29 comprises a horizontally disposed lever member 30 having alower offset end 31 forming a channel 32 so that it may slip onresilient spout 21 up to body member 19. The term horizontally disposeddescribes the lever position relative to a vertically disposed containerequipped with a valve dispensing at the top. Cross piece 33 connects theopen ends of the channel and thereby serves as a retaining member,preventing vertical motion of the actuation assistant when the offsetchanneled end thereof is slipped over spout 21. Stop 34 extendsdownwardly from the relatively flat horizontally disposed lever member30 and is adapted to contact the interior wall of bead 22 at 23. Suchcontact prevents horizontal movement of the actuation assistant in thedirection of the spout. Since the body portion 19 restricts movement ofthe device in the other direction and the walls of channel 32 and crosspiece 33 limit vertical movement, it is seen that the actuationassistant is held firmly in place. On horizontal lever member 30 thereis mounted rider 35 movable along a substantial portion of the leverlength. Rider 35 has a downwardly extending projection 36 of sufficientlength to enable it to depress diaphragm 25 and valve stem 17 when inposition directly above said element when finger pressure is applieddownwardly to lever 30. When rider 35 is moved to the inoperativeposition, as illustrated in Fig. 2, depression of the lever 30 will notcause actuation of valve 15 because the resilient diaphragm 25 Will bemerely distorted at the point of application of the force and will notsufliciently depress valve stem 17. Bead 22, as illustrated, iscontinuous at constant height around the periphery of body portion 19and at 24 serves to halt the downward movement of rider 35 and lever 30and thereby prevent sufficient depression of diaphragm 25 to actuatevalve 15. It is not necessary that this head be as high as illustratedat point 24 so long as it effectively stops rider 35 and lever 30sufficiently to prevent actuation of the valve when the rider is ininoperative position. The rider is the only part of the actuationassistant extending downward far enough to be able to open the valve. Asshown in the drawing, stop 40 limits the travel of rider 35 along lever30 so'that projection 36 is always within the circle defined by head 22.Of course, to secure a greater mechanical advantage the lever itself maybe lengthened and the limiting stop position may be moved nearer to theend of the lever so that in inoperative or guard position projection 36will be outside head 22. Stops 38, 39 and 40 are provided on lever 30 todefine the operating and guard positions of rider 35. The stops are ofsufficient thickness to increase the height of the lever at those pointsto a dimension greater than the height of mortise 37 in rider 35. Therider itself is of sufficient resilience so that it may be moved paststop 39 into operating position 41 or guardposition 42 but, once on thelever, cannot easily be pushed past stop 4t which is of slightly greaterthickness than stop 39. Although stop 39 allows movement of rider 35past it it does impose a slight but definitely perceptible resistance tosuch movement, thereby defining the operating and guard positions of therider.

The actuation assistant shown in the drawing is composed of two moldedplastic pieces. The larger of these, which shall be called the lever, ismolded of a sufficiently rigid plastic material, such as polystyrene, sothat it will not be objectionably distorted during operation. Amongother plastics that may be employed are cellulose acetate, nylons,melamine resins, polyesters, phenol-formaldehyde polymers,polymethylmethacrylates and similar dimensionally stable polymericmaterials, to name only a few. The use of reinforcement or greaterthicknesses of the more flexible, resilient plastics will increase theirrigidity and may make them acceptable for the lever part. Instead ofplastics, the lever may be made of one or more molded, diecast, stampedor joined parts of other sufficiently rigid materials of constructionsuch as aluminum, steel, zinc die-castings and wood. The rider is preferably of a molded resilient and flexible plastic such as polyethylene,plasticized polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate or other poly loweralkylene addition polymer, but other materials, such as those previouslylisted, may be crnployed providing that they are sufficiently flexiblein the thickness used to allowslipping, with slight resistance, paststop 39 into guard and operating positions. In other designs ofequivalent rider elements operating with different types of stops it maynot be necessary or even desirable to utilize the more flexibleplastics.

The best mode of this invention, in which a lever-type actuationassistant has associated with it a rider element,

has been described in detail and is illustrated in the drawing. Althoughnot possessing the safety guard feature of the improved devicedescribed, also within the present invention is the lever member alone.It has a downwardly extending portion capable of opening the dischargevalve of an aerosol dispenser, is adapted at one end to slip on thespout, has retaining means for holding that end of the actuationassistant to the spout to prevent vertical movement and includes a stopon the lever member to prevent horizontal movement in the direction ofthe spout. Such a device may be illustrated by Fig. 1 of the drawing ifthe rider is considered as fixed to the lever in the position shown. Itis clear that this novel lever will be subject to accidentaldisplacement and fails to assure that the contents of the pressurizedcontainer will not be unintentionally discharged In another more usefulembodiment of the basic invention, the projection 36 shown in Fig, 1 maybe a permanent part of the lever and rider 35 may be movable betweenoperating and guard positions. In such a device the lower thickness ofthe rider will be such that in the guard position contact of the riderand actuator body portion 19 will prevent the downwardly extendingprojection on the lever from depressing diaphragm 2.5 sufiiciently toopen valve 15.

The invention has been illustrated with respect to a particular type ofaerosol valve actuator 18 but it is evident that by use of the disclosedprinciples and structure, the invention may be applied to other valvesand 'valve actuators.

In operation the lever portion 30 of the actuation assistant illustratedis slipped over flexible resilient spout 21 and lifted upward againstthe resistance of the spent to deformation until stop 34 clears head 22at 27. The lever is then pushed past the bead and allowed to spring intoplace, in which position it is held fast against both horizontal andvertical movements. If desired, the lever may be removed by reversal ofthese operations. The spout of the valve operator, in conjunction withthe channel 32 and cross-member 33, holds the actuation assistant to thevalve operator but, due to the flexibility of the spout, allowssufiicient temporary deformation thereof to permit placement of thelever in position. A similar effect is obtained by having the spoutrigid but constructing the cross-member 33 or other suitable part ofelastic or flexible resilient material. Either before or after the leverhas been placed on the actuator, preferably before, rider 35 is forcedover wedge-shaped stop 40 into position on the lever member.

In use the aerosol dispenser is held in one hand and the thumb or indexfinger is used to depress the end of the actuation assistant. Due to theease of operation it is unnecessary to rest the container on anunyielding supporting member such as a table or sink to enable the userto apply enough force to open the valve. The actuation assistant alsoallows better control of dispensing rate since it is more easilyadjusted to the desired valve opening. It also provides a protectionagainst accidental dispensing which does not necessitate theinconvenience of removal and replacement of a cap element.

The present actuation assistants are of inexpensive construction and areboth functional and attractive. They are not integral parts of theactuator or dispensing container and need not be disposed of when thecontainer contents have been consumed. Due to the construction of theinvented devices they may be readily attached or removed by the consumerfrom the aerosol dispenser and can be used many times over on variousproducts of this type.

The present invention has been described in conjunction with a drawingof a specific embodiment thereof. The invention is not limited to thespecific embodiment shown but, on the contrary, it is obvious thatmodifications may be made and equivalents substituted without departingfrom the spirit of the invention or going outside the scope of theclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. For a dispensing container for pressurized material having at its topa normally closed discharge valve which opens when depressed and a spoutthrough which contained material is dispensed upon depression of thevalve, that improvement which comprises a substantially horizontal leveractuation assistant for the valve adapted at one end to slip on thespout, retaining means for holding that end of the actuator to the spoutso as substantially to prevent relative vertical movement, a stop on thelever member, which stop holds the lever in position by preventinghorizontal movement in the direction of the spout in both operative andguard positions of the lever actuation assistant, a rider slidablymounted on the lever which rider can be moved between operative positionin which depression of the lever will actuate the discharge valve andguard position in which downward movement of the lever will not actuatethe discharge valve and an actuating projection extending downwardlyfrom the lever, which projection, in position over the discharge valve,will open the valve when the lever is depressed and the rider is inoperative position and will not actuate the valve when the lever isdepressed and the rider is in guard position.

2. For a dispensing container for pressurized material having at its topa normally closed discharge valve, which opens when depressed and aspout through which contained material is dispensed upon depression ofthe valve, that improvement which comprises a substantially horizontallever actuation assistant for the valve adapted at one end to slip onthe spout, retaining means for holding that end of the actuator to thespout so as substantially to prevent relative material movement, a stopon the lever member, which stop holds the lever in position bypreventing horizontal movement in the direction of the spout in bothoperative and guard positions of the lever actuation assistant, a riderslidably mounted on the lever having a downwardly extending actuatingportion which, when positioned over the discharge valve, vw'll open thevalve when the lever is depressed and, when positioned to the side ofthe valve, will not actuate the valve, though depressed, the rider beingthe only part of the actuator capable of actuating the valve.

3. For a dispenser for pressurized material comprising a containercapable of holding material under pressure, a closure at the top of thecontainer, anormally closed discharge valve fastened to the closuremember, a dip tube extending from the valve to below the surface of thecontained material being dispensed, a hollow stemmed verticallyreciprocable valve element which will open the discharge valve and passpressurized material when it is depressed, an integral valve actuatorcomprising a body portion adapted to grip the container closure, asidewardly extending resilient spout member, a bead, raised on the bodyportion adjacent the spout, a horizontal resilient diaphragm below theraised portion of the bead and peripherally attached to the body portionadjacent the spout and relatively free moving at other peripherallocations, and a passageway adapted to fit with the hollow stemmed valveelement and to move it vertically downward when the diaphragm isdepressed at a point over the valve element, so communicating spout andpressurized material, said integral valve actuator being made of aresilient plastic material of such thickness and construction that thediaphragm is easily flexible but the body portion and bead are resistantto vertically downward force, that improvement which is a combinationlever-type actuation assistant and guard against accidental actuationcomprising a relatively flat and horizontally disposed lever memberhaving a lower otfset'channeled end to slip on the spout up to the bodymember and engage it so as to prevent vertical motion of said end withrespect to the spout, a stop downwardly extending from the lever andadapted to contact the interior wall of the raised bead and thus preventhorizontal movement of the positioned lever, a rider on the lever havinga downwardly extending projection of sufiicient length that, whenlocated substantially above the hollow stemmed valve element itdepresses the diaphragm and valve element on downward application offinger pressure to the lever, while allowing the valve element to remainin closed position when depressed near the wall of the head, the riderin the latter position limiting downward movement by contact with thehead, said rider being the only portion of the actuation assistantcapable of depressing the valve element.

4. A combination lever-type actuation assistant and guard againstaccidental actuation as set forth in claim 3 in which the channeled endof the lever member has a cross piece connecting the open ends of thechannel which engages the spout, preventing ventical motion of the leverwith respect to the spout while allowing horizontal sliding motion, thelever member has stops for defining the operating and guard positions ofthe rider, and the rider is made of resilient material which can beeasily temporarily deformed under finger pressure to allow placement ofthe rider on the lever and movement between operating and guardpositions.

5. For a dispensing container for pressurized material having at its topa normally closed discharge valve which opens when depressed and aspouted valve actuator, through the spout of which contained material isdispensed upon opening of the valve, that improvement which comprises asubstantially horizontal lever actua tion assistant for the valve havingmeans at one end to slip onto the spout and to contact the actuationassistant I with a movement restricting part of the actuator held fastto the container, retaining means on said lever for holding the same endof the actuation assistant to the spout so as substantially to preventrelative vertical movement of the lever and spout at that point, stopmeans on the actuation assistant which prevents horizontal movement ofthe lever in the direction of the spout by making contact with a part ofthe actuator held fast to the container and, in conjunction with thelever actuation assistant being held against movement in the oppositedirection by contact with the actuator, holds the actuation assistantfirmly in place, preventing horizontal movement and, extendingdownwardly from the lever actuation assistant, a projection over thedischarge .valve which is movable far enough downwardly when the leveris de-,

pressed to open the discharge valve, the lever being of sutficientlength so that the force required at the end thereof to actuate thedischarge valve is appreciably less than that otherwise required fordirect actuation of the valve.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,558,272 Rubenstein June 26, 1951 2,678,147 Abplanalp May 11, 19542,753,214 Abplanalp July 3, 1956 2,772,819 Poarch Dec. 4, 1956 UNITEDSTATES PATENT oTTTcE CETlFlQA'llN F C@ f'iECllON Patent N00 2 975 943March 21 1961 Gilbert De Wayne Miles et a1,

It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patentrequiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read ascorrected below.

Column l line 47 for dieharge read em discharge column 5 line 47 formaterial read vertical =0 Signed and sealed this 24th day of April 1962e(SEAL) Attest:

DAVID LU LADD ESTON Ge JOHNSON Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents

